The Metropolitan is a 400 unit apartment building near the Tysons Central Metro station. It is the first phase of a 40 acre redevelopment of a suburban office park into a denser urban mixed use neighborhood. The building is sited next to an existing landscape buffer and stream course, which will be enhanced to become a one-acre park that serves as an amenity for the neighborhood.

The park is designed to preserve a series of trees and a hedgerow of mature pines, so that the park will have mature vegetation immediately. This strategy shaped both the functions in the park and its grading, in an effort to capitalize on these natural resources. The park includes a play area, dog park, small fountain, open lawn, and wood deck with movable seating. The wood deck is sited around a specimen oak tree, both to protect it, but also to benefit from its ample shade.

The elevated wood deck allows that activity to occur without undue damage to the root zone of the tree. The play area features natural boulders, wood stepping pads, and an embankment slide, all integrated into a berm that appears as much an earthwork as it is a play environment. The fountain is a small natural boulder with a tiny bubbler for small children to discover. It drains into a cobbled rill which acts as a drainage channel, leading to a bioretention cell at the low point of the lawn. Thus, the menu of sustainable practices guides the performance of the park, but also provides for amenity, activity, and play.